Kavad 4.8 – distraction

Kavad 4.8 – distraction

Originally uploaded by anselm23

Via Flickr:
The planned image for the third decan of libra is "a warrior with the body of a monkey and the head of a horse with a bow and a quiver of golden arrows, standing in the forest."

I had no idea how to draw a monkey body. So I wound up finding a tutorial online. Only, I wound up doing the whole tutorial, not just the parts I needed. As I noted, though, making mistakes is part of the process here. You have to accept that at times you’re going to be distracted or not entirely on your game. On the other hand, your brain is learning stuff and filing it away for future use. It’s not the right image, no – but now I know how to draw a monkey, and this adds to my pool of drawing skills.

It’s all good.

Kavad 4.8 – making mistakes

Kavad 4.8 – bad drawing

Originally uploaded by anselm23

Mistakes are part of the magical process, the artistic process, and the learning process. Heck, they’re part of being human.

This decan is supposed to be a man with the head of a falcon, hungry and thirsty, keeping his sons in mind. He’s supposed to be tossing a pitcher.

I can’t say with any certainty that any of these thoughts are represented accurately here. He’s holding his belly, but does that mean hunger and thirst here, or does it mean ulcers? Does putting the son in the picture make the father keep the son in mind? Is the pitcher tossed, or falling? Why do they both look more like pigeons than falcons?

Obviously I’ll be redoing this image at some point. But it does show, I think, just how hard it is to get your pictures 100% accurate all the time. In fact, it’s not possible. Are you going to let fear of imperfection stop you, or are you going to get the work done?

Via Flickr:
Sometimes, things just do not turn out the way you want them to. The Falcon, the first Decan of Libra, resembles a pigeon with an ulcer more than a falcon. The pitcher looks silly.

Making mistakes is part of the artistic process. It’s part of the magical process, too, as much as we might rail against that.

Taiji day 125

I started tai chi today with five golden coins, but then I stopped. I’ve been doing that first for s while. So I did eight piecs of silk first, then the five golden coins. Switching routines was useful. I actually got a better workout from the change in order. I ended with the form; my biggest achievement for the day was a perfect half-spin leading into a high kick with heel.

I don’t usually get complex movements like this one, this precise. This par of moves is always hard because one is at risk of being unbalanced going into the spin. My teacher said “put your big toe down to balance after the spin; that will give you the stability to execute the kick. Once you know this, though, you won’t need the toe-touch.” So it proved today — I spun, and lifted my leg right into the high kick. I hope this becomes a habit: the kick is a really nice stretch on my left leg.